…despite resolve. However, images to capture and display.

The owner-manager of this RV Park loves to work with his Bobcat. For a few minutes I watched from my window… so missed taking better pictures. Stepping outdoors was like stepping into a sauna!!

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This picture for my friend, Deb, to illustrate why there isn’t a light in my “laundry room.” You won’t hear me complaining because I’ve been using public laundry rooms since 1977.

I “resolved” to stay off the computer for a couple of days and “do” some neglected projects.

Today, a “Frantz” cousin contacted me (via email), and very obviously I had to document his family in my Ancestry.com database (for his benefit and mine). Silly as this may sound, I’m like a happy puppy wagging its tail with delight when given special attention. A “Frantz” cousin is especially nice because I’m often documenting cousins with a different surname. So this message is dedicated to David M. Frantz—with “sincere thanks.”

That’s eleven PM and I haven’t been able to walk away from the computer. While documenting… I came across a story I wrote more than two years ago and it includes “cousin’s” ancestors. Very obviously, I wanted to send him a copy of the story. As I reviewed the story I had to admit that “I sound like a broken record.”  (Of course the younger generation has no idea what “sounds like a broken record”  means.) Here’s the link to the story in an earlier blog message.

The following “story” was unplanned but written and attached to a “cousin” in my Ancestry tree.

“Hello cousin Nancy. You wouldn’t believe the marathon I went through to get to your record. Suffice to say, from Enos Wesley Gossett (erroneous individual) to Ernest Enos Gossett and Winfred Scott Gossett. I’ve been searching records (for three days) to accurately document the families of ‘Enos’ Gossett.”

I trust the reader will allow me to tell of a research sojourn which took days to resolve and (conservatively) two hundred individuals added to my Ancestry database. There are numerous folks with an Ancestry Member Tree who attribute two wifes to Enos Wesley Gossett, and twenty-one children–all within the same Muhlenberg County, Kentucky area. “Is this man a bigomist? Am I the only one to see the overlap?” I’m not content to “copy” from other Member trees; I search for sources. I documented all available information for each child and the child’s spouse (all twenty-one children).

Yes, ultimately I searched for a second man named “Enos Gossett” and found Ernest Enos Gossett. Finally I had the accurate family structures and it led me to Nancy Shank (my fourth-cousin-one-time-removed).

Decades ago a man named J. Arthur Shanks provided valuable information regarding the Shank/Shanks family in Virginia. You can read a portion of the Shank/Shanks Frantz/France information in the publication titled Frantz Families–Kith & Kin, Vol. 1, pp.51-54.  (J. Arthur Shanks’ publication is titled The Shanks Family From Pequea Creek.)

Below is the accurate picture of Enos Wesley Gossett family. (Finally?!)

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So why is Enos Wesley Gossett documented with his mother’s maiden name? Here is the comment I added to his record. (Yes, I’ve spent several days researching, and documenting, this man. Extremely confusing information wrestled with and constantly working with relevant information on two computers.)

Inquiring minds want to know: Why is James Franklin Carver listed as the father of Enos Wesley Gossett?? I’ve spent two days documenting everyone associated with Enos Wesley Gossett. I’ve searched James Franklin Carver and find no marriage between James and Enos’s mother Francis “Fannie” Gossett. Some members list a marriage in 1881 but that is the year when James Carver married Malissa Alice Cisney. I’ve checked other Ancestry Member Family Trees for “sources” and none listed (for marriage between James and Fannie). ~~ This researcher surmises Enos was the result of a rape or an affair. Close family members may know “the story” and (in my humble opinion) should clarify the relationship between Enos and James Franklin Carver. ~~ (Lorraine Frantz Edwards, 4 Jul 2020) ~~ ADDITIONS & CORRECTIONS WELCOME ~~

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“Detective” is exhausted!! My brain was working night and day on this family. Hopefully, I have everyone correctly identified and I pray other researchers “copy” my tree and not “the other guy.” Because my information is extremely different, it might be ignored?!

…and I won’t lie.

“The old lady”  was depressed and lacked the initiative to prepare a meal or clean her home. Spending time on the computer was the escape from loneliness. Ancestry.com is a worthwhile hobby but (imho) needs the balance of interaction with real, live human beings. How are my readers managing isolation? “To mask or not to mask”  that is the question. Sending “virtual hugs” and I hope to hear from you soon.

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We drove around the convalescent home half-a-dozen times waving to the residents. We went through Home Depot, and Walmart, parking lot waving and shouting greetings. People took our picture and said they will post on Facebook.

Received the following as an e-mail message several years ago. Thought I’d share…

Read the history of our country this 4th…please at least read this and ponder it. And thank all who are now serving or have served in our military.

Many high school graduates this day and time do not know why we celebrate the 4th of July.

Our 4th Of July:

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56
men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors,
and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army;
another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or
hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their
fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.

Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and
large plantation owners; men of means, well-educated,
but they signed the Declaration of Independence
knowing full well that the penalty would be death if
they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and
trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by
the British Navy. He sold his home and
properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British
that he was forced to move his family almost
constantly. He served in the Congress without pay,
and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions
were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall,
Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and
Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson,Jr., noted that
the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson
home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General
George Washington to open fire. The home was
destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed.
The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was
dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and
his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests
and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It’s not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free! We thank these early patriots, as well as those patriots now fighting to KEEP our freedom!

I hope you will show your support by sending this to as many people as you can, please. It’s time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more MEANING to it than beer, fireworks, HOT DOGS, and picnics……

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Color added to the other person’s last paragraph because I, too, value our “independence” and our rich heritage. Freedom isn’t free.

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